BJP Wants to Tar Clean Face of Congress

BJP gears up to target Congress from all corners

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At a meeting on August 20 at L.K. Advani's 30, Prithviraj Road home in Delhi, after over four hours of discussion and planning, BJP's top leaders decided they would go for the UPA Government's last bastion of integrity: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

BJP President Nitin Gadkari, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, her Rajya Sabha counterpart Arun Jaitley as well as senior leaders Murli Manohar Joshi, Rajnath Singh, Venkaiah Naidu, Jaswant Singh and Ravi Shankar Prasad decided to disrupt both Houses of Parliament. They would not back down, they said, even if the Government assured a Joint Parliamentary Committee or an inquiry by the Public Accounts Committee on the CAG report on coal scam, as in the 2G case. It was not a completely calibrated strategy, but BJP jumped into it headlong.

(From Left) Advani, Jaitley and Swaraj at a meeting in Parliament annexe on August 28.

Changing as it goes along, BJP has now evolved a two-pronged approach-continue obstruction of Parliament and simultaneously organise street protests. Jaitley and Swaraj are at the helm of protests in Parliament. "Advaniji is close to both of them. Aware of the animosity between the two, he has clearly earmarked their roles," reveals a senior party leader. So as Jaitley prepares a strong case against the Government and justifies BJP's stand on stalling Parliament to the chattering classes, Swaraj ensures that the party is heard in the streets. Her statements like "the Congress made 'mota maal' (a fat sum) from coal allocation" are aimed at the masses, and intended to spark chatter.

"They know that it is now or never for BJP," says a party leader. There are daily meetings, sometimes twice a day, at Advani's office in Parliament. Gadkari, away on a family holiday in Canada at such a crucial juncture, is in regular touch with other leaders.

For BJP, there could not have been a better stick to beat the Government with. The coal scam tars the Prime Minister personally; revolves around corruption, an issue it seemed to have ceded to the India Against Corruption movement; and it gives them a potent issue for forthcoming Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, crucial states the party wants to retain.

Now that BJP has ratcheted up the protest to a point of no return in Parliament, the next phase will take the protests to the streets. It was part of the RSS plan. On August 24, RSS leader Ram Lal, who is also the secretary (organisation) in BJP, held a meeting with senior party leaders, state prabharis (officials in charge) and conveners of various units, asking them to pan out in the states, organise rallies and burn the Prime Minister's effigies.

"People like Hansraj Ahir (MP from Chandrapur) have worked day and night collecting data on coal allocations. We are working methodically. It is not just about throwing tantrums in Parliament as the Congress would like people to believe," says BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman.

But have they lost the moral high ground by not allowing the Prime Minister to speak in Parliament? Jaitley disagrees: "Suggestions that the issue should be debated only in Parliament will put a lid on one of the greatest scandals in Indian history. We are not interested in merely the issue being talked out through a one-day debate in Parliament. If a debate is being used today to put a lid on accountability, then an alternative strategy is necessary. In the rarest of rare cases, obstructionism also brings its dividends."

"The Congress, in the past two-three years, has failed to reach out to the Opposition. The gridlock in Parliament must be resolved," says author and columnist Ramachandra Guha.